Candidate for A Pocono Country Place board fights disqualification

A candidate is crying foul after he says he was disqualified from the election for A Pocono Country Place Property Owners Association's Board of Directors just as voting came to an end.

JENNA EBERSOLE

A candidate is crying foul after he says he was disqualified from the election for A Pocono Country Place Property Owners Association's Board of Directors just as voting came to an end.

Days before the results of the election were to be announced, an unknown challenger alleged he was not a "member in good standing," said candidate Joe Kowalski, a Philadelphia resident who has owned property in APCP since 1983. At least one APCP resident and former board member has since challenged the disqualification.

Elections in private communities, which are plentiful across the Poconos, sometimes ignite deep controversy. Arrests came in May for ballot tampering in the Wild Acres Community Association in Dingmans Ferry.

Kowalski said Thursday the number of votes cast for him has not been released, but he believes he may have finished first.

The election for five seats on the board spanned more than a month starting in May, with ballots mailed to members.

Kowalski said he has been told the disqualification by the judge of elections was because he did not properly fill out paperwork and register the short-term guests who rent his properties. He said he is not accused of missing dues or any other financial issues, and the paperwork issues are minor.

The alleged errors were also not enough to disqualify him from the election just two months earlier, he said.

Kowalski said he believes the person who challenged him is resisting change, and the challenge was motivated by the animosity against residents who primarily live elsewhere or rent their homes.

"I think it's typical in many elections where the incumbents are very resistant to change, and in some cases stoop to methods that are illegal or at least unethical in order to preserve their power and their position," he said.

APCP Community Manager Cathleen LaBosco confirmed CPA Deborah Boyle of Weseloh Carney & Company LLC was the judge of elections. LaBosco said she is the only person who speaks for the APCP board and she would check with members.

Board attorney Nick Haros said a few members have challenged the election results, though he is not able to say specifically who or on what grounds. The judge of elections will soon issue a written decision in favor or denying the challenges. But Haros said the process is fair given that the judge is independent and from outside the community.

"As such, all emotion should be taken out of the equation and the community should be assured of a most fair result," he said by email Thursday night.

Boyle said by email Thursday night she would need to consult with her client before making any comments.

Former board member Michael J. Peterson lodged the challenge to the disqualification. He chaired a committee several years ago on revising the bylaws, he said.

Peterson wrote Boyle should be censured, and the bylaws do not give authority to the judge to make the decision on whether an individual is in good standing.

"Even if this turned out to be so, we are shown no basis for this decision, justification and no identity of a challenger to the candidacy," Peterson wrote.

He said if the board will not seat Kowalski, then determine whether he is in good standing, the association should schedule a new election.

"By discarding so many valid votes, the results are thus affected, and I and many of my fellow members have been disenfranchised and our wishes disregarded," he wrote.

Peterson said he is acquainted with Kowalski but does not know him well. He said APCP also has potentially violated its bylaws over the last few years by removing other board members.

"I'm not endorsing his candidacy, and I'm not working for him," he said. "I'm working for keeping the process from being tainted by political infighting."

Kowalski has asked for a hearing, which LaBosco said does not comply with the bylaws.